People carry many types of cards with them every day. The cards include credit cards, debit cards, drivers' licenses, transportation passes, building access cards, and many other types of cards. These cards are typically carried in a wallet or purse. A person may need to use any number of cards during the course of a day. Since people do not know which of the cards will be needed on any given day, most people carry all the cards that they may need with them every day. With the proliferation of card-capable terminals, people can end up carrying an inordinate amount of cards with them every day.
Many people also carry mobile devices with them, such as cell phones, PDAs, and many other types of mobile devices. Mobile devices increasingly have short range communication capabilities, such as near field communication (NFC) capabilities or Bluetooth capabilities.
A person that carries a wallet or purse also has to secure the contents of the wallet or purse at all times to protect against theft and fraud. If a card is lost or stolen, it can be used in unauthorized ways, leading to identification theft, fraud, or financial loss. In addition, as many transactions are increasingly performed without the need for physically possessing the card (e.g., online purchases), the mere exposure of the information found on a card to an unauthorized person is a risk to the card holder.
There is a need to reduce the number of cards carried by a person, and an opportunity to address that need using the short range communication capabilities of a mobile device which that person carries. In addition, there is a need to secure cards and card information so that cards and card information is not exposed to unauthorized people.